Open AccessOldest webspinners from the Middle Jurassic of Inner Mongolia, China (Insecta: Embiodea)
Author(s) -
HUANG DIYING,
NEL ANDRÉ
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
zoological journal of the linnean society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.148
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1096-3642
pISSN - 0024-4082
DOI - 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00499.x
Subject(s) - ovipositor , biology , synapomorphy , cretaceous , inner mongolia , paleontology , taxon , anatomy , china , zoology , clade , phylogenetics , archaeology , history , hymenoptera , biochemistry , gene
The oldest webspinners, Sinembia rossi gen. et sp. nov. and Juraembia ningchengensis gen. et sp. nov. , are described in the new family Sinembiidae fam. nov. from the Middle Jurassic of Inner Mongolia, China. They differ from the Cretaceous and more recent Embiodea in several plesiomorphic characters, namely they have a long ovipositor, three‐segmented cerci, eyes situated on the posterolateral angles of the head, and the prothoracic prescutum is absent: these characters suggest habits that strongly differ from those of the recent taxa. The loss of the ovipositor and the reduction in the number of cerci can no longer be considered as synapomorphies of the ((Embiodea + Zoraptera) + Plecoptera) and (Embiodea + Zoraptera) clades, respectively.